Hocker 13:09 in Sweden - should he just stick to 1500?

He needs to stick to the 1500m and it is a long shoot that he will win another major 1500m. He may be the Peter Rono of this generation.

Looking past your need to provoke, I’m open to admitting you may be right. I will say though, there isn’t really anybody else in the world who is a clear favorite in Cole’s place. There’s a lot of really good guys but none of them really dominating the others. You could say it’s Ingy, but he blows it at the major championships in the 15 and I’m actually making the prediction that this injury is the beginning of the end and his days winning on the circuit are over. I just get that feeling somehow. But back to Cole. Totally fair. He struck gold on the right day, but I don’t think you can make the case that anyone is a clear favorite over him either. It’s a roll of the dice. It’s probably the case that Wanyonyi would deal with those guys easily like he did in grand slam, but he said he isn’t going to run the 15 at worlds. That’s unless something changes.

it's not a long shot. he still has something that nobody else has, WHEN HE'S SHARP

and he still has 7:23 strength.

It's not a given that he wins any more worlds, but it's certainly not a long shot.

Nobody remembers Billy Mills, Schul, or Wottle outside of the US. Ngeny is remembered because he upset the GOAT.

This board is full of US people who talk about 8 year old kids running as if the world should be watching. No one outside US knows most of your professional athletes never mind the kids.

I will never understand the US obsession with college sports. It's just kids. Amateur sport!

Ask 100 people in USA today who Cole Hocker is and 98 won't have a clue. People don't care. Track is not as big as people think

We love it. Bit it is very niche

It's ridiculous for people to keep saying Jakob got smoked. He has a gold, and two silvers in championship 1500m races and a 4th place for going at a suicidal pace. He would have still medaled if he ran smart at the last Olympics. He didn't get smoked. I'd compare Jakob's 1500m championship races to anyone. Cole has a gold, nothing else, Kerr has a good record, a gold in WC and two silvers at the Olympics, no one else comes close to Jakob's records at championship 1500m, plus he doubles and has 3 golds in the 5k. NO ONE COME CLOSE TO THAT AS A COMPETITOR.

Id like to see what he can do in the 800. He seems to be more an 800/1500 guy to me.

Agreed. The proper use of the word "smoked" was Kerr in the 2022 CWG.

There’s no way Wanyonyi could easily beat these guys and he probably wouldn’t medal. There’s a huge difference between beating some out of shape guys in a 3:35 race and winning in sub-3:30 in the WC.

ya

such is the completely ridiculous "analysis" here, and this includes too many that "know" the sport.

a meter off the win amongst the best on the planet, and now he's doing everything wrong.

TWO WEEKS AGO

Hocker won the OG, in a race the top 4 guys had a real shot.

and his next step is to be on the podium in most of the big races an win a couple

that would be the best case progress. something which he is on track to do actually.

I love when one America-hating rando on this forum tries to speak for the rest of the world. 🤡

Why are we going to Peter Rono? Jake Wightman exists and is kinda the ultimate one-hit wonder if you’re really going there. But Hocker did it at a younger age and was more of a phenom, so that feels unlikely. He also has a superior 3,000 to Jake’s best off event (2:14 1K). If he’s gonna be the next Wightman we’re looking at some more finals, but no medals. If medals but not the circuit success, it’s more a la Centro.

Yeah, it was a bad race for him. Maybe he had a mild flu or something. I wouldn't count him out.

I tend to agree that it gets a bit ridiculous when there's so much talk about high school and college kids on here, but that's mostly a result of how American sports are structured compared to Europeans. They don't have the system of clubs like we do, where your age doesn't matter, you compete at the level that you qualify for. The high school and college system is their equivalent of the club system.

"The mental aspect part being second fiddle" comments are downright thoughtless.

The brain is like any other part of the body, put good in and get good out.
Sports Psychotherapy is huge and Hocker has been talking for years about it.
Look at his interviews, there is a huge amount of emotion in him. He is incredibly poised, but at the same time sensitive and probably very hard on himself.
Most of our training is "jogging"...if you arent meditating and visualizing and remaining positive, good luck having any amount of success.

Look at Brazier, I'd bet $1000's he has done a serious amount of mental health work to make this return. Same for Shelby with a different case. The mind controls the body.

Go ahead and think about your own best races/performances you've ever had. How were you mentally on those days, how did you feel (mentally), what were you thinking about? Etc.

What does Eliud always preach about the mind, the guy is shaman like. The greatest and most consistent are incredibly mentally resilient.

Hocker is doing just fine, he keeps showing up, 13:09 is nothing to shake a stick at. He could have easily saw the gap formed with a 1600 to go and felt it wasn't worth the effort, he could have been feeling off, could have had negative thought slip in, on an on. Who cares, yes the greats "always won". Bekele, Kipchoge, El G....wait a minute they all beat each other at various DL and championships..."Always Winning"...

He won the greatest 1500m of all time and set an OR. When was the last time you got lucky and ran a 3:27.65.

In response to the other poster, idea that the conditions were far from ideal is ridiculous. Young’s AR with a significant negative split was an outstanding race for him. How much did these far from ideal conditions negatively affect the race? One second? Two?

List of the 9 men with multiple 1500m Olympic medals:
- Luigi Beccali (ITA): '32-G, '36-B
- Kip Keino (KEN): '68-G, '72-S
- Seb Coe (GBR): '80-G, '84-G
- Fermin Cacho (ESP): '92-G, '96-S
- Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR): '00-S, '04-G
- Bernard Lagat (KEN): '00-B, '04-S
- Nick Willis (NZL): '08-S, '16-B
- Taoufik Makhloufi (ALG): '12-G, 16'-S
- Josh Kerr (GBR): '20-B, '24-S

Lol this board is full of idiots. No one on planet Earth could have beaten Centro that day. The best of the best tried and failed.